These issues have divided this country along red or blue affiliations like never before.

Candidates bash each other. Heated debates run amuck. Republicans take one stance while the Democrats take another just to oppose what the other party is advocating all for the sake of opposition; not for doing what is right for the country.

The campaign even brought a four-year-old to tears in a video that went viral on YouTube.

Mother Nature’s message to us with Hurricane Sandy: STOP IT!

We are all inhabiting this planet together, Republicans and Democrats alike. We are all Americans wanting the same thing — a strong, safe, and prosperous America.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of the president’s most vocal dissidents, gave high praise to Obama for his handling of Hurricane Sandy. The governor told Republicans who criticized his accolades in a closely-contested election year to get lost saying that he could care less about presidential politics right now. Christie said that Obama was responsive giving the governor a direct line to the president and doing everything Christie asked in a timely manner.

Governor Christie knew that law enforcement officers live by the WIN principle: What’s Important Now.

The campaign be damned. People needed help and needed it now.

Federal aid is costly. Hurricane Sandy will only make the trillion dollar deficit worse, not better. Let’s come together as Americans working for what’s right for the country and stop putting so much energy into working against each other.

The sad thing is that it took the fury of Mother Nature wiping out half of the Northeast coastline for us to see what is important right now — getting the East Coast back on its feet and the country on its way to economic stability.

Rebuilding Long Island and the New Jersey shore, getting the New York subways running again, and power restored will create jobs and save old ones.

Let’s build on that.

America needs to make Hurricane Sandy its phoenix and rise out of the puddles left behind from the storm surge to be a stronger and more united America.

Exercise your right as an American. If you haven’t already voted early, vote on Tuesday.

Then put away your party affiliation and unite your community in building America.

Natural disasters test the ranks of law enforcement. Support your fellow officers, donate to the Red Cross, send supplies to the departments hardest hit.

Adopt a department and ask what they need. Blue must take care of blue.

About the author

Barbara A. Schwartz retired after 30 years with NASA in Houston where she worked in Mission Control and Astronaut Training. She is a former reserve officer serving in patrol and investigations. She has been writing about law enforcement officers since 1972 and has been a contributing feature writer for American Police Beat for the past 10 years. Her articles and book reviews have also appeared in Command, The Tactical Edge, Crisis Negotiator Journal, The Badge & Gun, The Harris County Star, The Blues, and The Police News.

Schwartz earned a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University with electives in Criminal Justice and Criminology. She helped fund her education by working for the campus police department.